What was wrong with the loudmouth who humiliated a mother at a ByWard Market restaurant last weekend because her four-month-old son was babbling away like babies do?

Sounds like one of those folks who believe infants and young children have no place in restaurants because they can be disruptive, and, decided to let the mother have it. The crass outburst aside — he told the mother to take her baby and leave — there are many people who think like this guy.

And what about the other diners? There were about 25 people who witnessed Vanessa Ettinger being bullied on May 24. Not one person got up and told the man to lay off. Surprising.

The restaurant likely won’t be seeing little Gabriel Ettinger again because his mother doesn’t think she will ever go back. Until last weekend, it was one of her favourite restaurants when Ettinger was in town visiting family and friends. She moved from Ottawa to Montreal last year with her husband, and Gabriel’s sister, Isabelle, now 2 1/2-years-old.

Had Gabriel been crying, Ettinger says, she would have taken him from the dining area immediately, and home if she couldn’t settle him down.

Ettinger says she is somewhat upset with staff, too. Although a couple of workers expressed their sympathies as she was leaving, they did not do much else. She says she felt as if she had been the one who created the problem. The restaurant owner says there wasn’t much they could do, not having witnessed anything.

Within moments of being asked to take her baby and go, Ettinger and friend Geneviève Labonté remember all eyes in that section of the restaurant fixed on them. And Gabriel just kept making “little baby noises,” says Labonté, while his mother was putting him in his infant carrier to get out of there, even if half their $85 dinner was still on the table.

Ettinger says she and Labonté were just talking when the guy at the other end of a table behind theirs bellowed: “Can you take your baby and leave?”

Ettinger says it took her a few moments to clue in as to what was happening, but eventually turned and saw there were about 10 people sitting at the table. “Are you talking to me?” she asked.

“Yes, and I’m serious,” said the man at the end. “We’re having a conversation here and we can’t think.”

Funny, recalls Labonté, that the chit-chat coming from that table was considerably louder than the baby’s babbling.

“He’s not crying,” said Ettinger. “He’s just babbling.”

The man didn’t care. “I know. I have three kids of my own. But he’s making noise.”

Ettinger says it was dead quiet at the end of the exchange. No one moved, but another man at same table at least had some gumption. “We all don’t feel that way,” he said.

Ettinger says she was reeling from embarrassment and upset that her evening out with a friend was ruined. She placed Gabriel in his car seat and told Labontę they should leave. She even left a tip and then hurried to the front to pay her bill.

The owner of the ByWard Market restaurant says he was surprised to hear of incident. He says nothing of that nature had ever occurred in his restaurant, which has been in business for 32 years. He says children are always welcome, and the restaurant has high chairs, booster seats and infant carriers at the ready.

He says he wasn’t in the restaurant at the time and staff was working in other rooms. He says staff would have tried to mollify the situation had they been present. He promises to review the matter and go over appropriate protocol with his employees.

When a hip restaurant and wine bar opened in Old Ottawa South four years ago and made it clear it didn’t want kids around, there was considerable fallout, and it pitted parents against foodies on radio talk shows and the Internet. The child ban did not hurt business, though the owner said he was upset The Public Citizen reported the story. But he did reverse his position. He was also taken to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on a discrimination complaint by the mother of a newborn at the centre of the story. The complaint was settled through mediation.

Ettinger’s payment was refunded Monday after the restaurant owner heard about the incident.

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